About

Hi, I’m Angela. Welcome to Oh She Glows – an award-winning recipe blog featuring over 500 healthy recipes! For the past 5 years, I’ve shared mouth-watering, energizing recipes that I eat on a daily basis as well as oodles of drool-worthy photographs. My goal is to inspire others to embrace more plant-based foods in their diet without feeling deprived. And yes, my recipes are great for meat-eaters and picky kids too. Most of my recipes are gluten-free and many are allergy-friendly.

My first cookbook, The Oh She Glows Cookbook (released March 4, 2014) is a New York Times Bestseller. It was also selected as Indigo’s BOOK OF THE YEAR for 2014! It features over 100 plant-based vegan recipes (including 85 gluten-free recipes) using real, whole food ingredients. The book also contains over 100 full-page, full-colour photographs shot by yours truly. For more info, see here.

Note: The parfait cover is the Canadian cover and the carrot cover is the US cover. The content is the same in both, however!

Feeling hungry? Here are several of the most popular recipes on Oh She Glows right now:

My Story:

On October 31st 2008, I started Oh She Glows to write about my recovery from an eating disorder, my journey to health, and the amazing transformation that food can make in our lives. Within the first few months of blogging my readership started to grow and before long I connected with women and men all over the world. Today, almost 5 years later, Oh She Glows receives millions of hits each month. I never expected that my blog would turn into a passion and eventually my full-time career, but I’m extremely grateful that I took a chance and hit publish on my first post.

As my relationship with food improved, I focused on creating healthy plant-based recipes that would win over my husband’s approval. At the time, Eric was a devout fast-food lover and drank pop like water. Coming up with healthy dishes that he enjoyed was a difficult task, but I was up for the challenge! I didn’t come from a food or photography background (nope, I barely knew how to cook a potato), so everything you see on this blog is a result of hard work and self-taught skill. I taught myself how to create recipes and photograph my creations. It’s been an adventure!

Fast forward to 2012-2013 and I’m now working on my first cookbook which is due out early 2014.

[interview in The Writer Magazine]

Let me rewind a bit and tell you about what was going on in my life the year I started my blog.

2008

We fell in love with this crazy kitten. We call him Sketchie. He’s a bit older now, but just as crazy…

In 2008, I married my high-school sweetheart, Eric, and graduated with a Master’s degree in Social Psychology. Life was wonderful, yet not so wonderful at the same time. I was in recovery for an eating disorder, something I had been struggling with since I was 11-12 years old. Despite the great things going on in my life, I couldn’t enjoy them fully without putting my eating disorder behind me. It was like a storm cloud hovering over me for years.

During the last semester of my Master’s degree, I started working full-time as a researcher. I did a lot of hands on, practical research and even had the opportunity to write a book chapter, but ultimately I found that research did not fulfill me like I thought it would. I just felt so empty inside and deep down I knew that it wasn’t a great fit for me. I longed to express my creative side! I wanted to write, but not in the form of scientific articles. Thankfully, Oh She Glows was a great outlet and really let my creativity flourish. For the first year of blogging, I wrote 3 posts per day (yes, you read that right) and I absolutely fell head over heels in love with my new hobby. Up until this point in my life, I never had a hobby that I felt so passionate about and it felt so rewarding to enjoy something so much. Connecting with others all over the world motivated me to keep going during a time when I was very unhappy with my career. Whenever I was frustrated with career unhappiness and worried about my future, I would brainstorm ideas for blog posts. Boredom was no longer in my vocabulary.

2009/10

In 2009, I took the leap and left my research career. Yikes! This was a difficult and anxiety-provoking decision as someone who doesn’t like change or letting people down. I had no plan, but a supportive husband, tons of drive, and a hobby I loved. After a couple months of looking for other research jobs, I decided to start up my own business, Glo Bakery – a healthy bakery featuring my popular Glo Bars. Walking away from a career that I went to school for 7 years was not an easy thing to do, but it turned out to be the best career decision I could’ve made. Finally, I felt passionate and in control of my own happiness! I was determined and filled with passion to make this new career work.

I ran the bakery on my own (with the help of my husband when he had time) for a couple years and it was a huge success. Each week, I hand-made over 500 Glo Bars and shipped them to customers (many were blog readers!) all over North America. It was physically exhausting running both the bakery and the blog, but I knew that I was on the right path to career happiness. No matter how much work it took, I was willing to do it.

2011/2012/2013

After a couple years of running the bakery and blogging full-time, I closed the bakery to pursue my cookbook dreams after being approached by an editor from a major publishing house. The bakery was an experience I will never forget and I learned so much. Right now, my focus is on writing a fantastic cookbook and blogging, but who knows, some day in the future I might open up the bakery again!

2014:

My husband Eric and I are expecting our first baby late September 2014! You can read my announcement in this post. Also, check out my Baby section, where I post weekly pregnancy updates + pictures and talk about pregnancy vitamins and nutrition.

Learning to love food again

With hard work, counseling, and persistence, I was able to overcome my struggles with disordered eating. I no longer count calories, weigh myself obsessively, binge eat, or workout compulsively. Balanced is how I feel in my life now. It’s a great feeling after so many years of struggle.

I shifted my diet to plant-based in mid-2009 after learning more about nutrition, animal welfare, and the environmental impacts of factory farming. My goal is to show you healthy, unprocessed, and animal-product free recipes that I create to keep myself and my family inspired about tasty good-for-you food. My husband dropped 20 pounds effortlessly and got rid of his high cholesterol – all without dieting or medication. I share my recipes on this site to hopefully inspire readers to try out my recipes. The best part about my recipes is that anyone can enjoy them from vegans to carnivores alike. Don’t believe me? Just read some of the glowing reviews in the comments. I’ve received hundreds of emails over the years from blog readers crediting Oh She Glows for inspiring some major changes like losing weight, shifting to a vegetarian or vegan diet, reducing meat consumption, overcoming eating disorders, and changing careers. I am so grateful to be a able to share my passion for food and wellness on this blog and most importantly, to hear YOUR stories of triumph! Whether you are looking to incorporate a few vegan meals into your week or want to take the plunge with a vegan diet, I hope you’ll find that inspiration here.

How to Contact Angela:

Please note: As of Sept. 21, 2014 I’m currently on maternity leave and I will not be able to respond to your comments and questions for the time being.

Facebook: Check out my Facebook page. I reply to all of my Facebook wall comments & questions and it’s usually the fastest way to hear back from me. Please allow 1-5 days for a reply (longer around holidays).

Instagram – Check out my Instagram page. I post food pics, recipes, and some behind the scenes action! I also have a new Instagram account @theglowspot where I post pictures of home renos, pregnancy, life events, and non-food related things. Make a recipe from my blog? Be sure to tag it #ohsheglows and @ohsheglows on Instagram so I can see it! Looking forward to seeing all your creations!

Twitter: @ohsheglows - I love reading what’s going on on Twitter and I LOVE hearing about the recipes you try out! Tweet me about the recipes you make or share a pic! I love re-tweeting your creations.

Questions/comments? Please stop by my FAQ page for a ton of your questions answered in one cozy spot. You can also say hello via email: angela [at] ohsheglows [dot] com. I personally respond to as many of your emails as I can fit into a day, but occasionally I cannot keep up with them or lose track of emails. If this is the case and your question is urgent, please feel free to re-send it or try leaving me a note on my Facebook wall. For some reason, I find comments much easier to stay on top of on Facebook. I appreciate each and everyone of you who take the time out of your busy day to send me a note. Thank you for making my days brighter!

just found your blog on modelbehav. i love your wedding video! super classy :) i LOVE that i’ve finally found someone else who doesn’t love sushi. i also have a very guilty obsession for celeb gossip (i’m on perezhilton.com like 10 times a day). anyways love your blog and can’t wait to see more posts!!

Oh my God…I live in Canada as well…and seriously if you are hiring – for anything that could I could manage to live off of and pay the loans..;)…please let me know!! It would be a dream and a passion of mine. I would break down and cry – no joke. I won’t go into detail, my blog curtails my obvious search for peace and happiness…but anyhow -HUGE CONGRATS to you and your amazing acheivements girl!! Way to go – inspirational! :)

I thought you might find the following of interest. Please take a look below and let me know your thoughts. As always, any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. If you have any questions, need help with anything or are interested in posting the video, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thanks,
Marissa Tuchband

Story Information:
Most people know salads are an important factor in the quest for optimal health but did you know that May was National Salad Month? Launched in 1992, National Salad Month is used to shine a spotlight on the health benefits of eating different kinds of leafy greens and colorful vegetables.

Scientific evidence of salads’ health benefits can be found in a study conducted by University of California, Los Angeles and Louisiana State University that was published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. This study found that those who eat salads, raw vegetables and salad dressing have considerably higher levels of vitamins C, E, B6 and folic acid, all key nutrients in promoting a healthy immune system.

In addition, salad dressings are a satisfying accompaniment to the healthy vegetables and fruits consumed in salads, and many salad dressings provide an essential fatty acid, alpha-linolenic acid, which helps protect women against fatal heart attacks, as well as the ever-important vitamin E, which offers numerous health benefits to salad worshippers.

your blog is inspirational.
i too was always around 125 lbs…being 5″2′ made me still look floppy…i guess if i were to put it into perspective, 125 lbs is pretty good now that i am 148 lbs… i seem to be going up a few going down a few…i have been like this for a few years now…well, after i had my kids… i am an extremist and a perfectionist. if i set out to burn 400 cal each time that i am on my treadmill, i will meet my goal and if it is supposed to be 5 times a week, i will workout. and then, i see 2 lbs down and i panic…i binge or i stop working out…but instead of forgiving myself for the binge, i feel like i need to punish myself for not being perfect and then i fall off the perfect routine… i am so sad…i hate taking photos because i know i am pretty but i cannot look at myself because all i see is fat, stretch marks, loose skin…so loose…that when my husband looks at it he feels really bad that i have it… he is so supportive…he too began at 210 and no he too is 170 but i am still 148…and i cannot seem to grasp control…i get new energy and i working hard and then i had an injury i guess hips…i guess it is considered pelvic but i could not work out and i still can’t….i will go to my dr today again for some therapeutic massages…but i am just not sure that i will ever end this battle…i want to be toned and healthy…and my goal is to just eat raw food, whole food in every sense (from the ground up0…and i do bikram yoga- which is amazing but now i cannot do it because of my injury… i feel like i am drowning and i cannot come up to grasp for air…i am mentally beat…and i am the one who is giving myself that beating…
i am probably one of many. and you probably think that i should just get a grip. and i agree. thank you for your time.

Maria,
You are not alone. There are physical as well as emotional and spiritual triggers for the cycles of an ED. Each individual is unique and you are the expert on your body.
May I suggest you consider a concept? Compassion for self. What is compassion? How do you show compassion for others? Are you willing to practice consistent, compassionate self care?
You are not alone. And you are worth your best efforts. Love yourself today. Take the next 10 days and keep a gratitude journal. 10 things or more. Express gratitude and see how your heart shifts.
An ED can be left behind! I know. In order for it to be left behind, we must move forward. This e-mail is a great step in reaching out. Taking this gratitude challenge can be your first step to moving out of an ED and moving on with your life. You are worth your best efforts.
Love,
Amie

Hi Angela,
I just wanted to send a note and say thank you for a very insightful and honest blog. I really appreciate your perspective on health and fitness. And thank you for living your dreams! I have yet to try a glow bar, as I have been out of North America for a year and a half but I look forward to trying one when I get back.
You have been a source of inspiration for me to start my own blog. I launched it Monday and am having a really great time with it so thank you!
Faith

I have to say that I love your site. This is one of many firsts for me. Usually I am not big into blogs, but stumbled upon yours from SmartPrettyandAwkward, and I also tend not to be into a lot of health food. I have been reading your blog every day and as of exactly one week ago, I have had no processed food and started to eat organic. I already feel better, I really do.

Thanks for all your amazing insite and recipes. You’re definitely my inspiration! I look forward to many more to come!

I was SO excited when I stumbled upon your blog today! I’ve been wondering if I was the only other Canadian health blogger out there – I read so many inspiring blogs by women across the border. Now I have a local to look up to! I live in Toronto and just started blogging my journey towards healthier living (aka finding my ‘glow’) this spring. So far, it’s been such a great experience. I look forward to following you!
p.s. Loved your Scotia Waterfront 1/2 race recap – I just started a Running Room clinic to do my very first 1/2 marathon, and that is the goal race! Will you run it again this year?

Angela,
I have so enjoyed reading your blog (a friend recommended it to me) – it has quickly become one of my favorites! It has been such fun finding other foodies who share similar tastes :) I have linked to you on my blog. Keep up the great work!

Angela, I ran across your blog about a month ago and you have been SUCH an inspiration to me!!! Your blog helps me keep a positive outlook on life and to enjoy every second of it! I also have been eating clean and losing baby weight and hopefully getting my glo back and get back into running marathons and triathlons, Thank you for such an awesome blog!!

I found your blog a few weeks ago through twitter and I have found it to be really positive and motivating! I have a similar story, I just finished my freshman year of college, 5’4 and 140 pounds. I love food, of course a bit too much. My parents are extremely into eating healthy and organically, but I have never appreciated this until now. I recently joined a gym and have become addicted to spin classes. I used to run every now and then, but I could never get myself into a routine, but I am getting more and more motivated everyday! Thank you for being such an inspiring person and continue to post fabulous recipes and tips!!

Hows it going! i’m a huge fan of your blog and hope to one day start my own! I had a question for you. I grew a large garden this year and i decided to grow okra…but I have noidea how to cook it . Any ideas????? THanks!

Angela,
Just as so many before me, I have been truly touched by your blog. Whenever I am discouraged on this roller coaster of a ride to health I know I can find inspiration and truth in your posts and personal story. As a graduate student researching digestion, hormones and mood, personal experience of disordered eating/body image issues I could not be more appreciative of a vital mentor who has put all what I preach in practice.
I guess what I’m trying to say can be summed up into two words— THANK YOU!! :)

I love your website! I need to get some work done and it is distracting me yet again…there are so many interesting posts/recipes to review. Anyway, I am curious about a gluten-free diet. Are your recipes gluten-free? What are your thoughts about a gluten-free diet?

I just discovered your blog and I am so happy I did! I am really enjoying reading about your journey and will be following it from now on! I am a nutrition major and getting ready to apply for my Master’s so I can become an RD. What are some of your favorite nutrition books?? Thank you for writing and for your inspiration! You should definitely write your own book!